


Ribbon

by alex_caligari



Series: All of Me, All of You [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Fluff and Smut, BAMF Sub, Collars, Communication Failure, Dom/sub, Frottage, Hand Jobs, M/M, Positive portrayal of kink, Waxplay, soft dom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 11:33:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12840279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alex_caligari/pseuds/alex_caligari
Summary: The bond clarified at the worst possible moment.“Oh shit,” he said. Keith staggered and Lance knew what that meant: he was trying to kneel for his Dom.For Lance.





	Ribbon

**Author's Note:**

> Two years since posting my last fic and then I fell into Voltron Hell. Hold on to your butts.

The bond clarified at the worst possible moment.

Lance had just finished saying, “ _I’m_ saving Shiro,” while bracing one side of the formerly presumed dead fighter pilot when he met Keith’s eyes. A rush of protectiveness swept over him along with an overwhelming feeling of _mine._

“Oh, _shit,_ ” he said. Keith staggered and Lance knew what that meant: he was trying to kneel for his Dom.

For _Lance._

Keith recovered from the shock faster than he did. He shook his head and said, “We’ll deal with this later. Right now, we gotta get out of here.”

‘This’ turned out to be the least of their worries. Suddenly, everything was moving at breakneck speed. Running, shooting, flying; there was no time to slow down to breathe, let alone think. It wasn’t until after their first battle — where Lance was torn between high-fiving everyone because _space and aliens and giant robots_ and freaking right the fuck out because _war and danger and death_ — that he even had time to consider what being bonded to Keith meant.

His side of the bond had first manifested when he was ten. He was constantly looking over his shoulder because he thought someone was staring at him. Then came strange emotions; restlessness when he was stargazing, sadness when he was playing with his siblings, anger when he was bored at school. He finally asked his older sister about it, who only grabbed Lance and ran to their mother shrieking about how he finally got his bond.

Etiquette classes started the year after. It was incredibly embarrassing. He didn’t want to talk to adults about aftercare and headspace and scenes. This was his _sub._ It felt too precious to share with anyone. He stammered and stumbled through it, telling himself that it was worth it if it meant he could make his sub happy. He could feel his sub’s amusement at him after every class.

The connection strengthened over the years, and Lance got to know the subtle changes in his sub’s mood. Turned out that his sub was rather feisty. He could feel their frustration and how they pushed against boundaries. It thrilled Lance even as it worried him. How was he going to control something so _wild_ , something that felt so much bigger than him?  This wasn’t a person to be dominated, but a force of nature to be swept along with. He couldn’t imagine anything like that kneeling in submission to him.

When he was fifteen, something bad happened to his sub. There was a terrible black tearing in his mind, then the bond went blank. Lance went in tears to his mother, certain that his sub was dead, and she had to calm him down and coach him through re-establishing the connection. It was there, tiny and numb, but there. His sub was alive. Lance broke down again at the relief washing over him.

The numbness didn’t lift for weeks. Lance kept sending threads of comfort over the bond. He missed the closeness they had and worried that it would never come back. What if his sub was in a coma? What if they were lost forever? But slowly and painfully, like blood coming back into a limb, the connection returned. Even though words and images didn’t make it over the bond, Lance spent the next six months whispering _I love you_ to his sub every night. He hoped some of what he meant made it over.

Then a year ago, another bad thing happened. It caught Lance as he was walking to class at the Garrison. For a second, he honestly believed that someone had shot him, it hurt so much. Hunk had to drag him to the med bay as Lance was too out of it to even see straight.

It wasn’t numb like before; now the bond was filled with a burning rage. Lance was plagued with migraines and his grades started to suffer. He begged his sub to stop, to winnow the bond, _anything._ He couldn’t live like this and he knew that his sub couldn’t either. Didn’t they _care_ that they were hurting him? The rage eventually settled into a steady simmer, but it didn’t disappear completely.

Lance didn’t even make the connection that Keith had dropped out at the same time.

Now, he lay awake in the dark of the castle, scrubbing at his face. The bond wasn’t supposed to clarify this early. He expected at least another three or four years. He had _known_ Keith at the Garrison, had met and spoken to him. He knew about Keith’s parents disappearing a few years ago and how hard he had taken the loss of the Kerberos mission. Of course, it made sense now. Twenty-twenty hindsight and all.

He felt for the bond and knew Keith was in the same sort of turmoil. Lance automatically sent over a feeling of calm and comfort. He was barely aware of doing it until he felt Keith pull away. Hurt stabbed through his chest at having his sub reject him, but he made sure to keep it from the bond. He rolled over and tried unsuccessfully to get some sleep.

&&&

Piloting the lions was interesting. Piloting Voltron was just plain weird _._ Lance didn’t know how his head held so many connections at once. Blue was light and friendly, but at the same time huge and ancient, like a giant psychic Labrador. Voltron smooshed lion and paladin together, so he wasn’t feeling only Hunk or the Yellow Lion, but a strange hybrid of both. And through it all was the bond with Keith, which he tried to ignore as much as possible.

Training was fucking _awful._ Lance and Keith weren’t good at anything together. They spent more time yelling at each other than figuring their crap out. It wasn’t until that stupid food fight with the handcuffs — Lance still felt a hot mix of embarrassed and turned on whenever he thought about it — that they even began to function as normal.

They never talked about the bond.

There were times when Lance thought he caught Keith looking at him with something other than a glare, but then Keith would mock him somehow and leave. It left Lance frustrated and short-tempered, and he didn’t know whether they were his emotions alone, or if Keith’s were getting tangled up in there as well.

Everyone else knew what was happening, too. Except for the Alteans, but like hell was Lance going to explain _that_ to Allura. How he wanted to see Keith kneeling at his feet. How he wanted to grab him by his stupid hair and tip his head back to expose his neck. How he wanted to belt him up so tightly he couldn’t move and — guh.

He couldn’t go on like this. Neither of them could. It would drive them insane.

Lance didn’t know how to fix it. Keith wouldn’t even be alone in the same room with him. He even kept his side of the bond winnowed so Lance could only feel the strongest emotions. Mostly annoyance.

Despite the difficulties they were having, Lance didn’t want to talk about it with the others. This was between him and his sub, and he didn’t want the rest of them butting in, however well-meaning they were. Only Shiro had any experience with a clarified bond, and Lance was reluctant to bring personal issues to someone who still kind of intimidated him.

So they limped on as well as they could. It wasn’t perfect, but it was…functional.

And, of course, that’s when everything went to hell.

During the party with the Arusians, Lance felt able to relax for the first time since pulling Shiro out of that medical tent. It was good to be reminded that there was something more to this paladin gig other than training and fighting and oh-god-are-we-going-to-die. He even talked to Keith like a normal human being. Seeing Keith laugh was both a balm and a blade; he loved seeing his sub happy, but it would never be directed at him. It was just another thing to add to the heartache Lance felt that caused him to seek some quiet.

He barely remembered what happened next: the explosion, the ambush, falling in and out of conscious over the course of an entire day.

But he remembered Keith, who had caught him as he collapsed once again. Who carried him to the healing pod. Who kept checking on him over the bond. Lance thought he was dreaming when he felt those tentative brushes against his mind, as if Keith was checking his pulse. It was…nice. He was too deep in the healing status to offer anything back, but he clung tightly to that connection.

Finally, he stumbled out of the pod and for a brief moment, Keith stared back at him with relief. Then the walls came up — emotionally and mentally — and Keith was lost to him once again. It annoyed him, so maybe he was more obtuse than usual as he ate in the dining hall later.

“I punched Sendak!” Keith said.

“Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a _coma_ and shot his arm off,” Lance said offhandedly. It was rather satisfying seeing Keith get this worked up.

“We had a bonding moment!” he growled.

Everyone froze. Lance glared at him. _How fucking dare he._ That idiot had spent the whole time here pushing away the bond, and _that’s_ how he brings it up? There was a flicker of doubt on Keith’s face as he realized what he said, but it was gone the next moment as he glared back.

Thankfully, they had other bombshells to distract themselves with. Between Pidge’s real identity and the not-a-castle-really-a-spaceship, Lance’s life had been thrown a curveball once again. Which he could really do without, thank you very much. Or at least not be the _freaking last to know anything, seriously what the hell, Pidge._

Allura said he still needed to rest after healing, so with that excuse, he headed off down the corridors. His ribs twinged with phantom pain, and it distracted him enough that he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. Turning a corner, he ran right into Shiro.

“You need to talk to him,” Shiro said without preamble.

“Who?” Lance said because he was feeling petulant. Shiro only gave him his best disappointed-authority-figure look and Lance relented. “I keep trying to, but he’s making it so difficult.”

“Lance, you might have died during that explosion,” Shiro said. “Do you know what that kind of trauma does to a pair-bond?”

He did, actually. Had experienced it twice.

“It takes time for the bond to heal from that, just like a physical wound,” Shiro continued. “And since the bond hasn’t been acknowledged yet…” Shiro raised a brow in question. Lance shook his head. “Then it’s already tenuous. You have to help fix it. If you don’t, it might stay weakened.”

Lance wrapped his arms around himself. “He pushed me away first. I — I don’t know what to do. He doesn’t want me.” Saying the words out loud ripped a hole in his chest next to the bruised ribs. “What if he wants to break the bond?” It was rare that bonds were rejected, but it did happen. Even rarer were broken bonds, pairs ripped apart by trauma or medical necessity. Rejected partners…didn’t do well.

“Lance, _no._ Considering what you two have been through already, the fact the bond is still there without being strengthened means he’s not pushing the bond itself away.”

“So it’s me. He doesn’t want _me_.”

Shiro sighed and rubbed the scar across his nose. Lance wondered if he knew he was doing it. “This is why the bond shouldn’t clarify this early. Okay, listen, I’ve talked to Keith about this same thing, and while he needs to explain his reasons himself, I can assure you that it is not you.”

“Wait, what?” Lance jerked back. “He talked to you, but not me?” Shiro merely gave him a frown worthy of any Dom. Lance threw up his hands. “Fine, okay, wrong thing to focus on. Keith’s just being a huge asshole as usual.”

“I know it doesn’t feel like it at the moment, but you two are pretty lucky,” Shiro said. At Lance’s incredulous look, he explained. “That your bonded is here with you. Present and safe.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “Oh god, I didn’t even think of you and — and Matt.” He paused at the shadows in Shiro’s eyes. “Can you — I mean, is he —”

“I can feel him,” Shiro said. “Barely. Enough to know he’s alive, but nothing more.”

“Shit, then seeing me and Keith being, well, _us_ must be super hard for you.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t even know how this should feel. What were you guys like?”

Shiro smiled, chasing some of the shadows away. “We made a good team. There’s a deeper trust and understanding in there. I know that when you guys get this worked out — and you will — that it’ll make Voltron that much stronger.”

“Thanks, Shiro.” Lance sighed. “At least you believe in me.” He grinned as a thought occurred to him. “Does that make Pidge your sister-in-law or something?”

Shiro rolled his eyes in a very Pidge-like manner. “Just focus on talking to Keith _._ Now, get some rest. You look exhausted.”

&&&

Lance didn’t go back to his room. Instead, he headed up to the observation deck to watch as the castle-spaceship took off and left the planet. Watching the stars go by calmed his mind. It was while he was stretched out on a couch thinking of absolutely nothing that Pidge found him.

“Hey,” she said, sitting down beside him.

“Hey. I hope you don’t have any more surprises for me because I don’t think I can take any more.” He side-eyed her. “You don’t look any different.”

She laughed. “Am I supposed to? I can’t grow out my hair in a day, and I didn’t pack a lot of dresses when we were literally abducted by aliens.”

Lance gave her a flat look. “Yup, it’s still you, all right. God, Keith’s only known you for five minutes, how did he figure it out before me?”

“You had a lot on your plate,” Pidge said gently. “And it wasn’t like I _wanted_ you guys to know.”

“I wondered why you never went to etiquette demonstrations at the Garrison.”

Pidge turned red. “Uh, yeah, that’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“ _What!”_ Lance bolted upright and stared at Pidge. “Please don’t tell me I need to give you The Talk.”

Pidge reared back. “Holy crap, _no._ I went through etiquette classes in school same as you.” She shuddered. “Just…no.”

“Whew.” He took a deep breath as his heart rate slowed down. “So what is it?”

Pidge shifted in her seat. “I know this is a really shitty time to ask, but the only other person I can ask is Shiro, and the less I know about his bonding, the better.”

Lance shook his head. “You know, Matt Holt being your brother is actually the least surprising thing about this.” He turned to her. “You want to know about the bond?”

“You don’t have to talk about it —”

“No, it’s fine.” Lance stared out at the asteroid belt they were moving past. “It’s weird, actually. When it first manifested, it felt like I was at the edge of a pond, and now I feel like I’m standing in front of the ocean. It’s so big and calming and I could watch it forever.” Lance sighed. “Well, sometimes it’s calming. Keith’s been pretty diligent about keeping me out.”

“He doesn’t want to talk about it, either,” Pidge said quietly. “What’s happening with you two?”

“The hell if I know,” Lance said with more vehemence than he intended. “He’s running hot and cold all over the place. First, he’s worried about me, then he couldn’t give less of a shit.”

“Lance, we were all worried about you, but Keith was out of his mind.” Pidge caught and held his gaze. “When he wasn’t destroying half the training arena, he was in the med bay. We couldn’t get him to leave.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I felt him. Over the bond, I mean. Which makes how he’s acting now even stupider.”

“Just talk to him,” she said. “Have you guys even tried that yet?”

“You sound like Shiro. How am I supposed to talk to someone who leaves the room whenever we’re alone together?”

Coran’s voice came over the intercom. “Paladins to the bridge right away. We have a distress signal coming in.”

“Guess it’ll have to wait.” Lance stood up. “Time to be heroes again.”

Pidge stood as well, giving him pat on the shoulder. “You guys will work it out. Just make sure you want to.”

Lance paused as Pidge left for the bridge. Did he? He wanted the bond fixed and have it stop feeling like an entire limb was numb. The bigger question was, did Keith? He left the observation deck, suddenly unsure.

&&&

In one of his more ungenerous moments, Lance thought that maybe breaking the bond wouldn’t be so bad. Keith was being an insufferable ass to anyone who talked to him, even Shiro. Lance didn’t want to notice the dark circles under Keith’s eyes or the way he kept circling the bridge full of restless energy, but he did. He tried to ignore the little voice in his heart that said, _My sub is hurting, help him focus, help him calm, help him._ Every time Lance felt for the bond, it felt like getting a static shock. Fine, he knew when he wasn’t wanted.

Besides, Rolo and Nyma seemed nice enough.

In fact, Nyma seemed very nice.

Lance didn’t spare a backwards glance as he and Nyma left, although he could feel Keith glaring daggers at him. _Too bad, so sad._ She was the exact opposite of Keith and therefore perfect; sweet, bubbly, and willing to spend time with him. The stress and tension that had been mounting since he came out of the healing pod were melting away. He was hanging out with an interesting person, he was having fun, and he felt confident enough to show off a little. What could go wrong?

“You want to see how fast I can climb this tree?” he said.

Nyma giggled. “Let me show you something,” she said. “Give me your hand.”

On a normal person, alarm bells would be ringing as soon as the handcuffs went on. But Lance’s brain shot back to the food fight and being tethered to Keith. “Whoa,” he said. “This is kind of…” _Sudden,_ he was going to say, because it wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about playing the sub, who hadn’t, but he had hoped it would be with someone he trusted. _It should be with Keith,_ and that thought killed the mood faster than the beeping from Nyma’s wrist device.

She smiled and twisted him around so he was getting up close and personal with the tree. “Nyma, what’s going on?” he said as she shackled his wrists.

“Sorry, Lance,” she said as her ship descended. “Maybe we’ll meet again.”

Then she was gone.

As Lance watched her disappear into the sky, he couldn’t help but feel like this was some kind of cosmic karma handing him his ass. “Oh, quiznak.”

&&&

He listened to the others through the comm on his helmet and heard when Keith went in alone through the asteroid field. He felt a swell of pride when Keith out-flew those bounty hunter jerks. It leaked over into the bond and Lance felt that now-familiar sting of being locked out. Although, considering he ran off with a cute alien, maybe he deserved that one.

At least being tied to a tree gave him time to think.

Pidge said they needed to talk, so he better figure out what he wanted to say.  “Okay, think it through. One step at a time.” He remembered one of his instructors saying to use ‘I’ statements. “I feel…” He stopped. Even naming what he felt was too big. _Betrayed. Unworthy. Useless._ He remembered the moment the bond clarified. He was surprised, obviously, because who would have thought it was Keith of all people? But the more Lance interacted with him, the more it seemed to make sense. Where he was flippant, Keith was serious. Where Keith was reckless, he was thoughtful. They balanced each other out.

Under the surprise, though, was an incredible feeling of _holy crap, I found him._ Finding the complementary piece of your soul was supposed to be one of the best experiences of someone’s life. And he _was_ happy. He thought Keith was cool and talented and just _better_ at everything than he was, even back at the Garrison. All that rival bullshit was borne mainly out of jealousy. But in the short time in between the bond clarifying and Keith winnowing it down, Lance was stupidly happy that Keith was his and, more importantly, that _he_ was _Keith’s._

Lance shifted his shoulders to try to work feeling back into his fingers. Keith wouldn’t have ended up like this. Keith approached everyone with a scowl and drawn blade. He argued and questioned and the only person he seemed to actually trust was Shiro and —

Oh.

If he didn’t think it would leave a hard-to-explain bruise, he would have pounded his face into the dirt. He was so _stupid._ He had been battering down Keith’s side of the bond like some ignorant boyfriend on a locked door. No wonder Keith wasn’t letting him in. If Keith’s metaphorical door was locked, then Lance would move back across the hall to his own space and leave his door open behind him. He imagined a warm study with a fireplace, overstuffed armchairs, and walls of bookcases. Lance smirked as he thought of Keith’s shack in the desert and added a worn-out dumpster couch and a corkboard full of Keith’s research on the Blue Lion. It was hopefully a place where Keith could feel welcome and safe. He might have liked to give the impression that he was a tough-as-nails loner, but Keith was still skittish and slow to trust. Lance had to let Keith come to him.

Enough time had passed that Lance’s hands had gone completely numb. He was wondering if it would be more feasible to chew through his arms or the tree when his comm crackled to life.

“Hey, Lance,” Keith said far too casually. “I got your lion back.”

“What, really?” A rush of gratitude and relief filled him, but he made sure to contain it within his little metaphorical room. “Thank you, Keith. Now, can you come and unchain me?”

“What’s that?” said Keith. “You’re cutting out.”

_Oh, you little shit._ “Oh, come on!” Annoyed as he was, the fact that Keith was _teasing_ him meant he wasn’t totally lost. Lance took a chance. “I thought we bonded. Keith? Buddy?”

Keith didn’t answer, but Lance thought he felt the smallest trickle of amusement through the bond. Well, it was a start.

&&&

“What were you thinking?”

“Save it, Hunk. I already feel like a jackass.”

It would take another day to reach the Balmera after their disastrous detour. After Lance had returned to the castle — where Pidge was muttering darkly about robots and Keith had merely snorted and walked off — Hunk had steered Lance towards the kitchen and sat him down at the counter. At least he had saved his lecture for when they were alone.

“Oh yeah? About which part? Blindly trusting someone you just met, or running out on your bonded?”

“We’re not bonded,” Lance growled. He meant to hold in his irritation, but he was tired, sore, and dehydrated. “It’s not acknowledged, is what I mean. And I don’t know why everyone is blaming me for this mess. Shiro, Pidge, now you.”

“I’m not blaming you for this whole situation,” Hunk said. “Just…this little one.”

“Uggghhh.” Lance lowered his head to the countertop. “If you tell me to go talk to him —”

“If both Shiro and Pidge have been after you, then you’ve probably already heard that advice. Luckily, Allura and Coran don’t really understand the whole Dom-sub thing, or I’m sure you’d be hearing it from them as well.”

Lance lifted his head slightly. “So what are you going to say?”

Hunk crossed his arms. “What does the bond look like right now?”

“Uh.” Lance frowned. Bond visualization was highly subjective, but it wasn’t overly intimate. It was a reasonable thing to ask of a person having bonding issues, but Lance couldn’t see where Hunk was going with it. “Keith’s side is closed off and during my time getting to know a tree better —” Hunk snorted. “I withdrew to my side and left it open.”

“Okay, that’s good. But that’s just your respective ends. What does the middle look like?”

Lance had always imagined it like a clear stream running between them. Which was mixing with the locked-door-hallway imagery, but whatever. Now, the bond felt ugly and full of bracken. Muddied. Lance sighed. “Not good.”

“What’s the use of an open door if no one knows it’s there?” Hunk shrugged. “Clear the path, put out the welcome mat, light up a giant neon sign. Something to let Keith know that not only is he welcome to your side, but you’ll be throwing a party when he gets there.”

Lance’s mouth quirked up. “Keith hates parties.”

“I don’t know,” Hunk said, smiling. “He looked like he was having fun with the Arusians. You know, before you blew up and he lost his mind.”

The mirth drained out of Lance. “Pidge said it was bad.”

“Oh, it was stupid-bad.” Hunk leaned against the counter, posture casual despite his dire words. “We thought we’d have to stick Keith in one of those pods just to get him to rest.”

Lance drew invisible designs on the counter with his finger. “He didn’t look great on the bridge this morning.”

Hunk leaned in close. “I think he’s punishing himself more than you now.” At Lance’s questioning look, he continued. “Again, _you nearly died._ And he wasn’t there. In fact, he and Allura were stuck outside the castle for most of it. He couldn’t protect you and then he couldn’t help you. I think we all know he has a bit of a saviour complex. Maybe tell him it wasn’t his fault.”

Lance crept his fingers along the counter until he gripped Hunk’s cuff. It was a small apology for his earlier irritation. “How’d you get so good at this?”

Hunk snorted. “Maybe because I’m a switch whose Dom regularly has identity crises? They freak out, I help them through it, we kiss and make up. Mentally. Whatever.”

“Okay.” Lance stood. “Okay. I can do this. I can fix this.”

“Cool. Just keep the noise down when you do. These walls aren’t soundproof, after all.”

Lance’s face flushed with heat. “Hunk!”

But Hunk was already leaving. “Good luck!”

Lance glared at the empty doorway for a moment, then slumped back onto the stool. “Okay, concentrate.” He laid his hands flat on the counter and focused on the empty space between them. He reached out through the bond and allowed a swell of cleansing emotion to wash it clear of the silt and junk that clogged it up. He kept the intention behind it clear: _Come find me when you’re ready._

Then he went into his room to wait.

&&&

Hours later, when the castle was dark and quiet, there was a knock.

Lance’s heart shot into his throat and started hammering to get out. Another knock. It was faint as if the person hoped they wouldn’t be heard.

He got up and opened the door.

Keith stood on the other side staring at the ground. His leather jacket was gone and he looked exposed without the armour of it. He didn’t look up.

“Keith,” Lance finally said.

Keith shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. “Lance.” He sucked in a breath. “I — I can’t take this. I need to — I —” He looked up and Lance hissed at the pain in his eyes. The dark circles had become deeper and his hair looked like he’d been running his hands through it. “ _I need.”_

Lance stepped aside. “Come in.”

He did and stood in the middle of the small room looking around. His eyes kept darting to the bed and away.

“Hey.” Lance’s instincts roared at him to _soothe, protect, help_. “Can I touch you? Nothing hinky, I promise.”

Keith stiffened, but he nodded. Lance stepped close and slowly, so that Keith could pull away if he wanted, he drew Keith into a hug.

Keith sagged into him and Lance braced against the weight, running his hands up and down Keith’s back. It was such a simple gesture, but the physical contact nearly undid him. _Finally._ They had barely touched since they left Earth, and now the warmth of his skin and the smell of his hair was making Lance dizzy with hormones. He felt Keith’s breath hitch a few times and knew he was riding the same crazy ride.

“What can I do?” Lance asked after several minutes.

Keith leaned back to look at him. He looked a little unhinged.  “Promise it’s safe here?”

Lance’s eyes widened. “Keith, of course. Nothing will leave this room if you don’t want it to. And I’m not going to mock you or kick you out for anything you say. This is a judgment-free zone. No judges allowed. Fort No-Judge, even. You will _always_ be safe here.”

Keith nodded, but still hesitated. Eventually, he looked up and met Lance’s gaze. “I want — you. To be yours. Make me yours.” His eyes flickered away. “Just for tonight.”

Lance was on a roller coaster, riding high and then crashing back down to earth with Keith’s statement. He shoved down his disappointment. “Okay.” He pushed Keith back by the shoulders. “Will you kneel for me?”

Keith nodded. A blush started high on his cheeks. “But I want —” He stopped and rubbed absently at his throat.

_Holy hell, he wants a collar._ Lance’s brain nearly exploded. This wasn’t fair. Collars were pretty standard, but they were usually for declared pair-bonds. People who publicly acknowledged their bond. Not ones who wanted a one-night stand.

Lance glanced around the room trying to figure out what he could use. What would be respectful enough. He darted to a drawer and rummaged through it. “I thought I saw — here it is.” He pulled out a long purple ribbon, probably part of a dress in a former life. Keith stared at it like he was starving.

Lance moved slowly back and took Keith’s chin in his hand. Keith’s pupils were blown wide open. The sight awakened instincts Lance had rarely used. He leaned in close enough to breathe over Keith’s lips. “Kneel.”

Keith slid to his knees like it was the only thing he’d ever wanted out of life. He sat on his heels and rested his hands on his thighs. Quiet. Obedient. Lance shivered.

Too late, he realized they hadn’t negotiated anything. It had been hammered into them from day one of etiquette class to never rely solely on the bond to tell you what your partner wanted. Fuck, they didn’t even have a safe word.

Lance wondered if they should stop. Keith looked like he was halfway into his headspace already with his soft breathing and half-closed eyes. He was in no position to lay down limits.

But.

Keith had come to him shattered after days of pushing away the bond. Keith had felt their already ragged connection tear apart when Lance was injured. Keith had to watch his Dom flirt with other people while being treated with derision.

Lance had been a very poor Dom. And that stopped now.

He stretched the ribbon between his hands. “Tomorrow, we’ll sort this out. Limits, safe words, all of it.” He laid it against Keith’s throat and felt him swallow. “But tonight.” He crossed the ribbon over at the back of Keith’s neck and tied a neat bow. “Tonight, you’re _mine.”_

Keith sighed and leaned into Lance’s hand still at the back of his neck.

“We’ll use the stop light system. Green, yellow, red. Say yes if you understand.”

“Yes…sir?” He looked up at Lance questioningly.

Lance grimaced. “‘Sir’ reminds me too much of the Garrison. If you want to call me something other than my name, um, use Blue.”

Keith’s face scrunched up. “You want me to call you by your lion’s name?” Not so much in his headspace, then.

Lance laughed and all the tension went out of him. He could do this. He could take care of his sub. He pressed a thumb to Keith’s lips. “I always knew you’d be a brat.” Keith scowled at that, but kept quiet. “Very good.” He moved his hand up to Keith’s hair and buried it in the thick strands. Keith immediately pushed into it. “And a cuddler! This just gets better and better.”

He petted him for a while longer, watching Keith’s eyes drift closed and hearing the soft sounds he made. “You’re so beautiful,” Lance said. He pressed his other thumb against Keith’s mouth and Keith bit down on it. Lance tightened his grip in Keith’s hair and pulled him back, gently but firmly. He waited until Keith opened his eyes to look at him. “What am I going to do with you?”

Good question. He couldn’t whip up — _ha_ — a set of cuffs or rope or anything. Even service play required too many props that he didn’t have. He started to worry again. He’d barely done any scenes with people. He’d gone to demonstrations to see what appealed to him, but rarely tried anything out.

Keith must have sensed it, because he reached up and grabbed Lance’s wrist. “Whatever you want.” He licked his lips. “I don’t need something elaborate. Even this is helping. I just need you.” A crooked smile appeared. “Blue.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Okay, it wasn’t the greatest title, I get it. I’ll come up with something better.”

Keith sobered. “You mean for next time.”

Oh. “We’ll talk about it later.” He cocked an eyebrow as an idea struck him. “In the meantime, how do you feel about wax?”

Keith blinked. “I have no objection to it.”

“Ever done it before?”

“No.”

“It’s nice. It’s…soft.”

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Lance echoed. He cleared his throat. Time to take charge. “Stand up and strip. Wait at the foot of the bed until I call you.” He turned away as Keith stood. Somewhere in these drawers, he had what he needed. In the first few days of being in the castle, he’d managed to rustle up some candles and something similar to baby oil. He’d experimented enough to know that neither the oil nor the wax reacted with his skin, and the wax melted at a low enough temperature so it wouldn’t burn.

Lance had latched on to wax early on. He found it soothing, both watching it drip over the curves of someone’s body and feeling the heat on his own skin. The only thing you had to think about was where to put it next. It was hypnotic in a way. He hoped Keith would find it soothing as well.

There was a rustle of clothes hitting the floor. Lance took a second to get a hold of himself and calm down before turning.

Keith was completely naked and standing by the bed, hands clasped behind him and head bowed slightly. He’d taken care to not disturb the purple ribbon around his neck.

Lance took the time to drink in the sight. Acknowledged or not, Keith was his bonded sub, and he was perfect. Dumping his things on the side table, he took Keith’s face in both of his hands. “I want to kiss you.”

Keith’s eyes darted down to Lance’s mouth. Lance could feel his pulse jump under his hands. “Okay.”

Lance started slow, giving him soft presses of his mouth until Keith responded. Lance wanted to savour him. His kisses became long and deep. He tried to convey how precious and important his sub was to him, how incredible it felt to be given this gift.

Keith, on the other hand, was _hungry._ He opened up for Lance and took everything that was given. It sent little darts of arousal through Lance’s body.

Keith wasn’t immune to it, either. His cock pressed against Lance’s hip. Lance’s cheeks warmed. God, he was fucking _blushing_ because his sub was getting hard. This couldn’t get any more ridiculous.

Lance pulled back to catch his breath. Keith may not be able to negotiate, but he could still answer questions. “What would you like to get out of this?”

Keith shivered. “I — don’t know.”

“It’s okay. You’re here with me, and everything’s fine.” Lance put his arms around him. “Whatever you want.”

“I want — I want to feel safe. Welcome.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Precious.”

Lance stroked his hair. “I can do that.”

“I also want to come.”

Lance nearly choked. _So not fair._ “Okay, yeah. I can do that as well.” He grabbed the spare sheet he’d dug out and spread it over the top of the bed. “Lie down on your front. Tell me if you get cold.”

Keith complied. Lance straddled him and began rubbing the alien oil over his skin. “It’s really not fair you’re so good looking.” Keith made a questioning noise. “I noticed you at the Garrison, you know. All that rival bullshit…I thought that if I was as good as you, you would notice me back.” Lance laughed, quiet and broken. “I sound so needy.”

“ ’S not needy to be wanted,” Keith murmured into the pillow. His eyes were closed and Lance felt his muscles relaxing under his hands. “I did notice you.”

Lance’s hands stilled. “What?”

“I saw you. But you were always surrounded by people. People who smiled and laughed. I didn’t think you’d want Moody and Broody.”

Lance began massaging again. “You laughed at the Arusians party.”

The bond trembled, echoed by a tremor that ran through Keith’s skin. “Then you were attacked.”

Lance acted without thinking. He stripped off his shirt and pressed down into Keith’s back, skin to skin. “I’m sorry you had to experience that. But I’m here. You’re here. We’re both safe because you took on a psychotic alien with a cannon arm like the big damn hero you are.”

Keith was silent for a moment and Lance listened to him breathe. “You helped,” Keith said finally. Lance could see the corner of his smile.

“Brat. Damn right I helped.” He sat up and reached for the candle. It was soft ivory; fine in a pinch, but Lance would have loved to spread bright colour all over Keith. Red, of course. And Lance’s blue. He eyed the ribbon against Keith’s paler skin and added purple to the list as well.

Lance made sure the rest of his supplies — the weird alien lighter and a damp cloth — were nearby. “Tell me if it’s too hot,” he said and lit the first candle.

“Yes, Lance,” Keith said in the same tone he would say, _Sir._ Lance found that he didn’t mind that at all.

The first drops of wax landed on Keith’s shoulder blades. His muscles twitched and he released a hiss of breath.

“Good?” Lance asked.

“Yeah. Green.”

Lance continued across his shoulders before tracing down either side of his spine. Keith twitched with each new spot, then settled as Lance retraced his movements. He fell into the rhythm of it; melt the wax, pour it out, repeat.

Keith suddenly bucked under him as the wax hit his ribs. “Gah! It tickles!”

Lance chuckled and rubbed his hands over bare skin. “If it’s not actually burning you, you can handle it.”

He heard Keith grumble. “It’s not exactly relaxing.”

“Just breathe into it.” He aimed his wax. “What about here?” He hit the two little dimples at the base of Keith’s spine.

Keith reared up with a growl. “Goddamn it, I can feel that everywhere.”

“Yup,” Lance said gleefully. “Hit the nerve bundles and everything goes _bang.”_

“Asshole,” Keith muttered as he flopped back onto the pillow.

Lance ran his hand through Keith’s hair and curled it into a fist; a reminder, barely a warning. Keith stilled immediately. “You need to focus. You’re having all this attention lavished on you and you know why?”

Keith shook his head.

“Because you deserve it. You need it right now, and I want to give it you.” Lance changed his grip into a petting motion. “It’s not about the pain. At least, that’s not what I want you to focus on. It’s about letting go. If you tense up —” More drops of wax along Keith’s spine. “— then it lingers. But if you allow your muscles to relax afterwards, it becomes soothing.” He let his fingers drift down Keith’s neck and felt the goosebumps appear. “You’re so good, and I want to take care of you.”

Keith shifted. “I want that, too.”

Lance shuffled down the bed in order to concentrate on his favourite part, the bit that Lance noticed on Keith way before he knew they were bonded.

“You run?” he asked.

“A bit,” Keith said. “When I needed to — to get out of my head.” He turned to look at Lance over his shoulder. “Why?”

Lance grinned. “Because your ass is fantastic.” A heavy drop of wax landed in the centre of each cheek.

Keith twitched, but not as much as before. “Huh. That feels better than I expected, actually.”

“That’s good. Just concentrate on that.”

They passed the time not saying anything important. Keith would occasionally growl his complaints when the wax crept towards too-sensitive skin, and Lance would coo over him like he was an adorable puppy. Eventually, the candle burned low enough to pose a danger to Lance’s fingers. Most of it was now splattered over Keith’s back, ass, and thighs. “You look…”

Keith was half-dozing. His voice was sleepy as he asked, “Look like what?”

Lance ran his hands over Keith’s sides. “You look clean.” The layers of white wax covered Keith like a blanket, giving him an air of purity.

Keith huffed a laugh. “If this is clean, what does dirty look to you?”

Yellow bolts of arousal shot through Lance. He leaned down and nuzzled into the back of Keith’s neck. “Wanna see?” Keith hummed. “You said you wanted to come,” Lance continued. “Do you still want that?”

Keith wiggled slightly under him, considering the question. “Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” he said, more firmly. “It helps clear my head. Resets everything.”

“When you can’t go for a run,” Lance teased.

Another laugh. “That, too.”

“Okay, put your knees under you.” Lance wanted to keep it simple. Once Keith had curled his legs under him, Lance snaked his arm around his chest and hoisted him upright so he was braced against Lance’s chest. The wax, still soft, slid off Keith’s oiled skin. Lance felt Keith’s chest rise and fall sharply. He licked up the side of Keith’s neck and said, “Stay right here.” Lance slipped off the bed.

Lance took his time undressing. He watched Keith from the corner of his eye as he got undressed. Keith sat with his head bowed and eyes closed. He’d probably sit like that for hours if Lance asked him to. At the Garrison and even during their short time in the castle, Keith was never completely still. He could _appear_ still, but he had a thrumming energy that fascinated Lance. Even now, collared and controlled, he couldn’t help his fingers twitching and turning slightly toward each new sound. He was unlike any sub Lance had met.

The rasp of leather sliding through belt loops had Keith fully turning toward Lance, although he kept his eyes closed. Lance settled in behind Keith once again, running hands over his chest and stomach. He bracketed his knees on either side of Keith’s. “Put your hands behind your back.” Keith obeyed, and Lance wrapped the belt around his wrists. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” Keith said immediately.

“As a paladin?”

“Yes.”

“As your Dom?”

“Yes.”

“As your friend?”

A slight hesitation, but Keith still answered, “Yes.”

“Lean against me.”

Keith half-turned to look over his shoulder. “The wax —”

“I’ll worry about that. You, lean against me.”

Keith did, letting Lance wrap his arms around him. He was completely surrounded now. Lance held him until he felt Keith relax fully into him. “Good,” he said. Then reached for Keith’s cock.

He stroked him slowly, listening to Keith’s bitten-off gasps. After a minute, he asked, “When was the last time you touched yourself?”

Keith squirmed. “It was on Earth. Maybe a week before we found Shiro.”

Lance did some quick calculations. “You haven’t come in almost three weeks?”

“I was working on finding the Blue Lion — and then I found you and it felt…weird to touch myself without you.” Keith shuddered as Lance increased his speed.

“I know what you mean,” he muttered. “All I wanted to do was grab you by the scruff of your neck and have you suck me off.” Keith choked at that. “All that arguing and backtalk, you were such a bratty little shit.” He drew one hand up Keith’s throat where the ribbon was secured and pressed him back into Lance’s shoulder. “Don’t ever change,” he said quietly.

Keith stared at him, his breath turning harsh. “Lance, I — I want —”

“Anything,” Lance said. His strokes turned harder, rougher. “I’ll give you anything.”

Keith bucked in his arms, obviously close. “Mark me. I want your mark. Please —”

Lance paused, stunned, and Keith whined in frustration. It wasn’t an acknowledgement of the bond, but it was close. “What?”

“I don’t want to forget this,” Keith panted into his neck. “I’ll try to ignore it, pretend it didn’t happen. So remind me. _Make_ me remember.”

Lance kissed him hard. He could so easily fall in love with this boy. He resumed his ministrations and lowered his head to the large muscle at Keith’s shoulder. Keith cried out as Lance’s teeth sunk in and his whole body stiffened. Lance worried the skin, taking care not to actually break it, and sucked hard to make sure a livid mark would appear. It would take several days to heal, and the thought of Keith seeing it, touching it, thinking about it when he was alone…. God, it was too much. “Keith, babe, I need you to come. I want to see you lose yourself in it. Can you do that for me?”

Keith whined again, gasping and babbling nonsense. He then stiffened and Lance kissed him as hot fluid coated his hand. “You’re so good for me.”

Keith sagged, boneless, back into him. “I — fuck.”

“Shh, just relax. I got you. Here.” Lance released Keith’s wrists and helped lower him onto his side. He knew sub drop could be pretty serious for some, and watched Keith carefully as he wiped off his hand and Keith’s stomach. After he brought over a glass of water and made Keith take a sip, he lay down next to him. “Hey, how’re you doing?”

Keith blinked and refocused on Lance. “Like a blank sheet of paper. Clean. New.”

“Think you’re up for a bit more?”

Keith made a questioning noise and Lance gestured to his own neglected hard-on. “I’m not a robot, man. You were being all pliant and sexy, of course it’s going to affect me.”

Keith laughed and a soft smile appeared. “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing strenuous. You don’t even have to do anything.”

Keith waved a hand, encompassing his whole frame. “Have at ‘er.”

Lance encouraged Keith to roll to his stomach and lay over him. They fit snugly together. Especially Lance's cock against Keith’s ass.

Lance started moving against Keith. It wouldn’t take much. It was easy with the oil still coating Keith’s skin. The bite mark had already bloomed into a dark purple, nearly matching the ribbon. Lance bent his head to Keith’s other shoulder. “This one,” he breathed, “is so that _I_ remember.” He sucked another mark into Keith’s skin. Leaning up, he saw with satisfaction that they were symmetrical.

Keith’s breathing was reduced to tight gasps as Lance rutted against him. “So beautiful,” Lance said. “And all mine. Any exhibitionist in you? If we were on Earth, I could let everyone admire how you sound when you come, how willingly you’re used by your Dom.”

Keith reached back and gripped Lance’s thigh. “Just…us,” he panted.

“No showing-off? How unlike you. Too bad, then, because you’d be the highlight of any room, all flushed and needy and mine, _ah, fuck.”_ He came hard, juddering erratically over Keith.

It took a long moment before Lance came back to himself. Top drop was a bitch. Slowly, he rolled to the side and grabbed the cloth next to the bed. He laughed weakly when he saw what a mess Keith was; come cooling in the spaces between pools of wax.

Between the two of them falling into each other and giggling, they managed to clean up enough to fall back into bed and under the covers. Keith bullied his way into Lance’s arms and curled up. “Are you staying?” Lance asked quietly. The room was dark and silent now, and he didn’t want to break the spell. “For the night?” he clarified when Keith didn’t answer.

“I’ll stay,” he said, which didn’t really answer the question, but was enough for the moment.

They listened to each other breathing instead of sleeping even though both of them were tired. Lance prodded the bond. It was as still and deep as a cave pool. He sent little ripples across it, and Keith looked up into his face with curiosity.

“It’s funny,” Lance said, “I was always worried about being a soft Dom. I’d see other people keeping their subs on a tight leash — sometimes literally, ha — or employing all these rules during scenes, and it never really clicked with me.”

Keith didn’t say anything, just blinked those dark eyes at him.

“I wondered how we would get along, me and my sub. It — you — felt so wild over the bond. A sub like that would need someone with skill and control and without an ounce of give, not someone who cuddles in the middle and likes backtalk and brattiness. I thought the universe had made a mistake.”

Keith made a small sound and reached up to stroke along Lance’s jaw. Lance mirrored him, staring at him in wonder. “How could I ever be what you needed? I thought I would be a disappointment to you. That you couldn’t respect me.” He took a deep breath. “I thought that’s why you stayed away.”

Keith pressed a soft kiss to his lips, the first time he had initiated it. “That wasn’t it at all. I respect you because you can give me what I need: freedom and safety together.”

He rolled away to stare at the ceiling. “When the bond manifested and I felt my Dom, they felt safe. Stable. Something to hold on to when things got too crazy. Then I actually met you.” Keith laughed incredulously. “And you weren’t safe or stable _at all._ You were just a posturing, arrogant, loud idiot.”

“Tell me what you really think,” Lance said drily.

“But then, I got to know you. I saw how you were with the others. How protective you were of Pidge and Hunk. How you always gave people the benefit of the doubt. Even after they…after I hurt you.

“So, yeah, I thought it was a mistake, too. I was frustrated and angry and scared and I didn’t know what to do. I thought if I ignored it, then the bond would, I don’t know, fade or readjust or something. But then Sendak attacked and I realized…I couldn’t do this without you. I realized how much I needed the bond. Needed _you._ But I didn’t know how to let you in. I almost threw away the most important thing for no reason.”

Lance hummed. “Shiro said kinda the same thing to me. Did he knock sense into you, too?”

“Pretty much.”

“We should buy him a cake at the next planet we land on.” Lance reached for him and they continued kissing with none of the desperation of earlier. Lance’s fingers brushed over the ribbon. “Do you want this off? A bit dangerous to sleep in.” Keith touched it like he had forgotten it was there. “I can give you another one in the morning,” Lance said.

Keith hesitated, and Lance wanted to kick himself.

Because this _still_ wasn’t acknowledged. Keith could still walk away and refuse him. What then? Could they live together in the castle? Pilot Voltron? Lance wasn’t sure he could go back to when they were ignoring each other.

“What about — the team?” Keith said.

“The team? They’d probably throw a party. They’ve been wanting us to work this out the whole time.”

Keith pulled away far enough to look Lance in the eye. The fire in his gaze captivated Lance. “Would you take direction from a sub?”

_That’s_ what this was about? Yeah, back on Earth, that may have caused a problem with some people, but here? Even in the Garrison, it was taught that it didn’t matter if someone was a sub or Dom as long as they knew what the fuck they were doing.

Then something ticked over in Lance’s brain. This wasn’t about being a sub, it was about _Keith._ He needed to be accepted as himself, not just as a sub or bonded. Lance cursed himself for everything he’d ever done to hurt Keith or make him think he was unworthy.

“Keith, of course I want you to accept the bond, but more than that, I want you to be with me,” Lance said. “Date me, be my boyfriend, we’ll even ask Allura what the hell Alteans do, but I want to be with you. As Keith _._ Please.” He kissed him. “I’ve loved my sub for so long. I want to get to love you, too.”

Keith blinked. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

Keith nodded, a smile starting to form. “Okay.”

His heart was pounding in his chest, but Lance tried to keep his hope in check. “Are you — are you accepting the bond?”

Everything about Keith went soft. “Yeah, I am.” He laughed, and Lance thought his heart would explode. “How could I not? I was being pretty stupid about it.” Keith dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry about that.”

Lance drew him in. “We were both stupid about it.”

Keith breathed deeply. “I’m glad I found you.”

“Me too, buddy.” His light words were belied by the strength with which Lance held him.

When he felt he could speak normally, Lance ran a finger under the ribbon. “I do need to take this off if you want to sleep here. But I think I saw some Altean leather bits in that closet. We could make you something tomorrow if you want.”

A pause. “I probably won’t wear it on missions.”

“Not asking you to,” Lance said casually. “We could keep it to the castle, or just for scenes. Whatever.”

“I’d like that.” Keith lifted his head again. “What about you?”

“Me?”

A crooked grin appeared on Keith’s face. “Can’t have all those aliens thinking you’re a free agent, can we?”

Lance laughed. “What did I do to deserve you? Sure, why not? I always liked the idea of a leather cuff.”

“You don’t mind?”

“We’re a soft Dom and a wild sub who fly giant robots in space. I think we can make our own rules about this.”

Keith pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “Try to stop us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone for such a positive response to this! Your kudos, comments, and bookmarks lighten my soul and feed my debauchery.


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